Most pre-cooked foods widely used in instant-cooking food products are charged into a receptacle after being dried. In preparation for consumption, hot water is poured over the food in the receptacle to reconstitute it into an edible food product.
This instant-cooking food consisting of a principal food, subsidiary foods and several kinds of seasonings all dried and mixed is restored with hot water; the hot water will be eaten as soup containing the seasonings. When the hot water is to be poured off, a portion of the lid is peeled from the receptacle to form an opening through which the hot water can be poured. The peeled portion of the lid can again be closed to keep the foods hot and thereafter be removed to consume the contents of the container. Thus, no special considerations are necessary for the lid, which may normally be formed from any flexible material easily peeled from the receptacle, such as a single sheet of paper, synthetic resin film, aluminum foil, or a laminated layer in which these materials are suitably combined.
Some kinds of instant-cooking food, however, require hot water only for restoration or reconstitution and are properly prepared for consumption only after as much of the hot water as possible is removed from the reconstituted foods. In this instance, a portion of the lid is peeled from the receptacle to form an opening to pour hot water into therethrough. The peeled portion of the lid is again closed to keep the foods hot, and the hot water will be removed after the food is restored. When the water is removed through the opening by tilting the receptacle, the consumer must hold the lid by his fingers during removal of the hot water to keep a small gap between the receptacle and the peeled portion of the lid so that the foods may not flow out through the opening. However, it is difficult and unpractical for fingers to hold the flexible lid to provide the narrow passage only for the water, without allowing for equalization of air pressure.